The Path to Mastery

 

 

Become a Great Software Engineer

$ whoami

Senior Software Engineer

The most important:

I like programming, JavaScript, movies, music and I'm a big fan of LOTR and Star Wars 🤓

May the Force be with you!

6 years at GlobalLogic

about 8 years in Web Development

 

Speaker, mentor, and Trusted Interviewer at GlobalLogic

Part of the program committee at Fwdays conference

 

        GitHub page

Inna Ivashchuk

My path

From GIS Engineer to Senior Software Engineer

My programming journey began when I created my first program in Pascal while attending school and continued as I designed a website for my school.

But after school, I decided to become a GIS engineer and even have 4 years of experience in this field

Who is a GIS engineer?

After dedicating three years to working as a GIS engineer,

I decided to get back to programming

And since that's time I've been learning 

and more

But something seems to be missing

  • OOP principles

 

  • Functional programming principles

 

  • Algorithms and Data structures

 

  • Desing Patterns

Let's get the basics down!

The basic skills and knowledge needed for software engineering

Programming languages

18

I'm curious, what happens if I become proficient in two programming languages?

1

Discover common programming concepts and paradigms

3

Broadens understanding and enables diverse problem-solving, fostering creativity in solution development

5

Understand OOP and Functional programming principles

2

Multi-language proficiency boosts employability, especially for roles requiring it

4

Easier to communicate and collaborate with your teammates, if they have backgrounds or expertise in different languages

Algorithms and Data structures

    An algorithm is any well-defined computational procedure that takes some value, or set of values, as input and produces some value, or set of values, as output. An algorithm is thus a sequence of computational steps that transform the input into the output.

What is an algorithm?

„Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.“
                                                      Niklaus Virt

Start

Do you know algorithms?

Time to learn 🤓

Congratulations 🥳

You are a superhero

Resolved!

No

Yes

     A data structure is a specialized format for organizing, processing, retrieving and storing data. There are several basic and advanced types of data structures, all designed to arrange data to suit a specific purpose. 

What is data structure?

Tree

JS Event Loop: Heap, Queue, Stack

Google Maps:  Dijkstra algorithm and Weighted Graph

Recommendation system/engine: Graph

....and many others

Big O notation is a convenient way to describe how fast a function is growing. It is often used in computer science when estimating time complexity.

 

Let's try to analyze the an example 1:

// Find sum of all numbers in array
function sumNumbersInArray(arr) {
    let result = 0;
    
    for (let i=0; i < arr.length; i++) {
        result += arr[i];   
    }
    
    return result;    
}

result - O(n)

Example 2

// Calculation
function calculate(arr) {
  const a = 3 + 1;
  const b = 3 + 3;
  
  let c = arr.length;
  
  console.log('Calculating...');
   
  return a + b + c;    
}

calculate([1,2,3,4,5]);

result - O(1)

Example 3

// Calculation
function calculationInArray(arr) {
  
    for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
      
        for (let j = 0; j < arr.length; j++) {
          
            arr[i] = arr[i] + arr[j];
          
        }
    }
    
    return arr;        

}

calculationInArray([1,2,3,4,5]);

result - O(n*n)

Functional programming principles

Functional programming is a programming paradigm that emphasizes the use of functions to solve problems

 

Immutability: In functional programming, once a value is assigned to a variable, it cannot be changed. This helps to avoid unwanted side effects and makes the code more predictable.

const game = {
  name: 'Cyberpunk 2077',
  year: 2020,
  buggy: false,
}

// mutable code
game.buggy = true;

// immutable code
const cyberpunk = {
  ...game,
  buggy: true,
}

Higher-order functions: Functions in functional programming can take other functions as arguments and return functions as values. This allows for powerful abstractions and code reuse.

// Using a Higher-Order Function (filter)
const games = [{
  name: 'Cyberpunk 2077',
  year: 2020,
  buggy: true,
}, {
  name: 'The Witcher 3',
  year: 2007,
  buggy: false,
}];

const nonBuggyGames = games.filter(game => !game.buggy);

// Using a Higher-Order Function (map)
const num = [10, 20, 30];
const num10 = num.map(i => i * 2);

   Pure functions: Pure functions are functions that always produce the same output for a given input and have no side effects. They are easier to reason about and can be used in parallel programming.

function add(a, b) {
  return a + b;
}

function square(x) {
  return x * x;
}

// not a pure function
const PI = 3.14;

function getCircleSquare(r) {
  return PI * r * r;
}

Recursion: Functional programming encourages the use of recursion instead of loops for repetitive tasks. This can lead to more concise and readable code.

function factorial(num) {
    if (num < 0) {
        throw new Error("num must not be negative");
    }
    if (num <= 1) {
        // Both 1! and 0! are defined as 1
        return 1;
    }

    return num * factorial(num - 1);
}

Function composition is the act of combining two or more functions to create a new function that performs both operations in sequence.

// Function composition example
function add(a, b) {
  return a + b;
}

function double(x) {
  return x * 2;
}

const result = double(add(2, 3));

console.log(result); // Output: 10

OOP principles

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a computer programming model that organizes software design around data, or objects, rather than functions and logic.

In object-oriented programming, Inheritance is the mechanism of basing an object or class upon another object or class, retaining a similar implementation. Also defined as deriving new classes from existing ones such as super class or base class and then forming them into a hierarchy of classes.

Polymorphism (from Greek πολὺ - multiple, і μορφή - forms) is the method in an object-oriented programming language that performs different things as per the object's class, which calls it. 

Animal

Dog

Cat

.speak() // woof!

.speak() // meow!

Encapsulation – in software systems, refers to the bundling of data with the mechanisms or methods that operate on the data. It may also refer to the limiting of direct access to some of that data, such as an object's components.

E

n

c

a

p

s

u

l

a

t

i

o

n

Variables

Methods

Class

Don't forget about object Oriented Design principles

DRY

S.O.L.I.D.

KISS

GRASP

YAGNI

"You aren't gonna need it"

General responsibility assignment software pattern

"Don't repeat yourself"

"Keep it simple, stupid!"

Design patterns

Singleton

Factory Method

Abstract Factory

Prototype

Builder

Creational Patterns: These patterns are focused on creating objects and are used to encapsulate complex object-creation processes.

 

Composite

Adapter

Bridge

Facade

Decorator

Structural Patterns: These patterns are focused on the relationship between objects and provide ways to manage object structures.

 

Flyweight

Proxy

Mediator

Command

Chain of Responsibility

Iterator

Memento

Behavioral Patterns: These patterns are focused on communication between objects and are used to manage algorithms, responsibilities, and patterns of communication between objects.

 

Observer

Interpreter

State

Strategy

Template Method

Best practices

The best practices in software engineering

1

Debugging:

  • debug JS code
  • use Profiler for React
  • other dubug tools

3

Version control:

  • one code base
  • contribution guidelines
  • ...

5

Code review:

  • knowledge sharing
  • improved code quality
  • enhancing maintainability of the code

2

Testing:

  • unit-tests
  • e2e tests
  • integration tests

4

CI/CD:

  • automated checks
  • improved release process
  • ...

Collaboration and communication

The soft skills are matter

1

Teamwork

2

Empathy

3

 Effective feedback

Possible manager suggestions

Code review 

Benefits

Improved code quality

Knowledge sharing and skill development

Improved code consistency and maintainability

More efficient development process

Reduced technical debt

Example

function addIdToMovies(movies) {
    return movies.map(movie => {
        const index = movies.fin(m => m.name === movie.name);

        return ({ ...movie, id: `movie-${index}`});
    })    
}

addIdToMovies([{
    name: 'The Lord of the Rings',
    genre: 'fantasy',
}, {   
    name: 'Dark Knight',
    genre: 'comics',
}, {
    name: 'Joker',
    genre: 'comics',
}, {
    name: 'Iron Man',
    genre: 'comics',
}]);

Example improvement

function addIdToMovies(movies) {
    return movies.map(
      (movie, index) => ({ ...movie, id: `movie-${index}`})
    );    
}

addIdToMovies([{
    name: 'The Lord of the Rings',
    genre: 'fantasy',
}, {
    name: 'Dark Knight',
    genre: 'comics',
}, {
    name: 'Joker',
    genre: 'comics',
}, {
    name: 'Iron Man',
    genre: 'comics',
}]);

Pair programming 

    Pair programming is a technique in software development where two developers work collaboratively on the same task, sharing a computer and working together to write code.

Programmer 1

Programmer 2

Benefits

Higher code quality

Collective code ownership

Stronger communication between developers

Shared best practices

More efficient work

Faster training of new team members

Mob programming 

Dev: navigator

Dev: driver

     Mob programming is a collaborative approach to software development in which a group of developers work together in real-time on one task. Mob programming has its roots in pair programming, an Extreme Programming (XP) technique in which two developers work as a team on the same task, using just one computer.

Dev: navigator

Dev: navigator

Mob programming rules:

  • one team, one computer, one problem
  • one driver, several navigators ⌨️🐈    😼😼😼
  • rotate the driver every 15 minutes  ⌨️😼   🐈😼😼
  • navigators stay on a higher level of abstraction
  • the driver is not allowed to run away with the code

Benefits

Higher code quality

Collective code ownership

Enhanced communication

Improved Decision-Making

Knowledge sharing

Team Building

(because it’s fun!)

Let's Keep Growing!

 Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.

– Henry Ford

  • OOP principles

 

  • Functional programming principles

 

  • Algorithms and Data structures

 

  • Design Patterns

                 +

  • System Design

Quiz: question 1

"4" + 8 - 6

result - 42

Quiz: question 2

const names = ["Luke", "Neo", "Aragorn"];

const helloMsgs = names.map((name) => `Hello, ${name}!`);

Big O(n)

     Let's estimate Big O()

Quiz: question 3

function fibonacci(n) {
  if (n < 2){
     return 1;
  }
    
  return fibonacci(n-2) + fibonacci(n-1); 
}

fibonacci(7);
//Returns 21

It is recursion

What principle of Function programming is used in this example?

Thanks to AFU(ЗСУ)

Keep working, learning, developing and definitely donate and help our Ukrainian Army and volunteers

Thank You!

Questions?

The Path to Mastery: Tips and tricks to Become a Great Software Enginner

By Inna Ivashchuk

The Path to Mastery: Tips and tricks to Become a Great Software Enginner

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